No matter how near or far you are from home, a recommendation for a good restaurant or bar is always nice to have.  EATS is a collection of places that I’ve enjoyed during my travels.

Dar Poeta
We were looking for a spot in Trastevere that would provide delicious pizza on our first night in Rome and found that with the popular Dar Poeta.  Located in the heart of one of the city’s most characteristic neighborhoods, here you’ll find reliable wood-fired pizza that’s self-described as “neither Roman or Neapolitan”.  It’s open daily from noon to midnight and does not take reservations, so plan to arrive early for dinner or else you’ll find yourself waiting in line.  We made our way across the Tiber River and arrived right around 7:00pm, which by normal Italian dinnertime standards is early, but ensured us quick seating at an indoor table at Dar Poeta.

We ordered a carafe of house red wine, an insalata mista and two pizzas – a Margherita and another with artichokes and olives.  The service started out slow as the restaurant made its transition to dinner, but we weren’t in a rush.  We watched the two oven tenders ramp up production, serving up warm pizza after pizza, which were quickly shuttled to tables around the restaurant. When ours arrived we weren’t disappointed.  We found the crust somewhere in between that of thin and crispy Roman pizza and its fluffy and chewy Neapolitan counterpart, just as Dar Poeta intended.

Dar Poeta, Vicolo del Bologna, 45/46, +39 06 588 0516, darpoeta.com

Da Tonino
Last time I was in Rome Da Tonino was chiuso per ferie as many restaurants in the city are during the August holiday.  With that, it naturally rose to the top of my list for my most recent visit.  Just steps from Piazza Navona, Da Tonino is surprisingly a cozy and comfortable little gem that serves traditional Roman cuisine.  Inside you’ll find a handful of tables, with more across the street outside, topped with red checkered tablecloths, which I couldn’t help but think was done for the benefit of tourists.  Putting that thought out of our mind we turned to the menu and were faced with the difficult task of choosing from a handful of tempting options.

For antipasti we ordered the beans with onions, which was mild with good flavor, and the most amazing Roman-style artichoke I’ve ever had, which was deliciously tender and practically melted as we cut into it.  Not to be outdone by the rest of our meal, we selected the tonnarelli cacio e pepe, rigatoni with eggplant and a plate of two sizable meatballs along with house red wine.  We thoroughly enjoyed our selections and agreed that this place was now among our favorites.  Da Tonino does not accept reservations so be prepared to show up early or expect a wait.

Da Tonino, Via del Governo Vecchio, 18/19, no phone number or website

Pizzeria Da Baffetto
Playing our odds with another restaurant that does not accept reservations, the next night we headed down the street to Pizzeria Da Baffetto, named after the restaurant’s original owner and his trademark mustache.  We arrived right as they opened for the night and were seated at a table on the plastic-covered patio as a line was starting to form outside (in retrospect, we might have preferred to eat inside given how busy the street was).  The service was no-nonsense and fast-paced, aimed at moving tables in and out quickly to accommodate the ever-growing crowd.  We made up our minds quickly and ordered house red wine, insalata mista and two pizzas, one with fiori di zucca, which you don’t typically see on a pizza rossa, and another with sausage, eggplant and onions.  Both were great, with crispy, cracker-thin Roman-style crust that was not too filling (even after eating the entire pizza).  This left us with enough room for a piece of the simple torta della nonna for dessert.  When it came time to pay the total was quickly calculated by our waiter in his head, which we paid in cash as the restaurant does not accept credit cards.

Pizzeria Da Baffetto, Via del Governo Vecchio, 114, +39 06 686 1617, pizzeriabaffetto.it

Ristorante Pizzeria San Marco
During my first post-pandemic trip to Rome in 2021, I ate at the San Marco location on Via Sardegna near Villa Borghese and had the best experience.  It has since remained one of my favorite spots in Rome, so I was looking forward to trying San Marco’s other location in the Prati neighborhood just north of Castel Sant’Angelo.  Both are casual but slightly more upscale than some of the other pizzerias mentioned here, but still retain a family-friendly feel.  The first thing you may notice is that San Marco has a huge menu with almost too many choices.  Luckily we knew that we wanted to order pizza on our last night in Rome.  We began with a Negroni and house red wine, and then after our food began to arrive, a procession of plates that was almost too fast for what the size of our table could accommodate – a couple suppli, stuffed and lightly battered and fried fiori di zucca and the La Classica salad.

Then came our pizzas, a Margherita and La Parmesana with fried eggplant and fresh basil.  Coincidentally, we realized these were the same two pizzas we ordered the first time we ate at San Marco, and true to our first experience they were thin and crispy Roman-style perfection, which we enjoyed to the very last bite.  Afterwards we ordered an amaro and un caffé alongside a piece of apricot crostata.  It was once again a great meal start to finish, cementing both of San Marco’s location as great options in Rome.

Ristorante Pizzeria San Marco, Via Tacito, 29, +39 06 323 5398, pizzeriasanmarcoroma.com

Gelato
Gelato is always a good idea in Rome, which should be consumed daily if not more.  With every very visit to the city, I love returning to some of my favorite places like La Strega Nocciola (Via della Vite, 100) and Giolitti (Via degli Uffici del Vicario, 40) while discovering new ones to add to my ever-growing list.  One is Günther (Via dei Pettinari, 43), which has a couple of locations in Rome, including the one we visited near Ponte Sisto and Trastevere.  The place was packed with a large tour group when we arrived with a single guy behind the counter filling each made-to-order cup and cone without even breaking a sweat.  When it was our turn, we found the selection of flavors to be plentiful (including unique options like pine, Sicilian orange and who knows how many variations of chocolate), the portions to be large and the quality to be quite excellent.

Another nearby option a bit closer to Piazza Navona is Frigidarium (Via del Governo Vecchio, 112), which also attracted quite the line of customers.  Here we found many rich flavors with add-ins like dark Amarena cherries and Pan di Stelle chocolate cookies.  We were also surprised to learn another aspect that makes this place even more over the top, the option to dip your cone in dark or white chocolate that would quickly harden over the cool gelato for no additional charge.  Then on our last night in Rome we visited the Neve di Latte (Via Federico Cesi, 1) location in the Prati neighborhood.  Its name conjures images of pure, sweet deliciousness, which did not disappoint.  Ordre at the automated kiosk and then take your receipt to the counter (or skip the kiosk all together), and get ready to enjoy cold, creamy perfection (I recommend a combination of a more traditional flavor like pistachio or amarena with their signature Neve di Latte).

As I’ve mentioned before, the best gelato is not flashy with inventive flavors and colors that are not found in nature.  Don’t settle on the first shop you see with a big plastic ice cream cone outside, and don’t hesitate to ask for un assaggio (a taste) before making your final selection.  Be choosy and you will surely be rewarded.  More recommendations can be found in previous EATS posts below.

Various locations

For more Rome EATS click here and here.